DSS Finds Fraud In 3 Percent of Food Aid Claims From Floods

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina’s social service agencies say an audit shows about 3 percent of the 178,000 people who applied for help buying groceries after October’s massive floods lied on their applications.
The Department of Social Services told The Post and Courier of Charleston that it chose at random about 9,000 claims to investigate further and found fraud in about 300 food aid cases
DSS says the average amount of the fraud was $434. The agency will allow people to pay the benefits they wrongly received back without penalty. The agency can also collect from tax returns and file criminal charges for people who don’t repay.
The fraud involves things like people who said they were out of work, but actually had a job.